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There are 17 replies in this Thread. The last Post (May 12th 2016, 2:33pm) by lasbugas.

The Desert Trail (1935)

Plot Summary
Rodeo star John Scott and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie are wrongly
accused of armed robbery.
They leave town as fast as they can to go looking for
their own suspects in Poker City.
Written by Ed Stephan

Trivia
The rodeo shots are the same as the ones used in The Man from Utah (1934).
Juanita's house is the same house as used as the Matlock ranch-house in He Wore a Star (1934)
and as Malgrove's house in Blue Steel (1934).

Goofs
* Continuity: After Scott stops the stage, he agrees to drive it into town.
He jumps on the driver's seat and heads off, leaving his own horse behind.
However, as the stage arrives in town, his horse can be seen tied on behind the stage.

* Continuity: When dressing to see Juanita, Scott changes hats.
However the hat is on a hook on the wall when he arrives, but when he leaves he picks it up from the dresser near the door.

* Continuity: When Scott and Kansas escape from the gaol,
Scott was unarmed but was wearing his gun-belt. As he runs across to the horses,
he now has a gun in his holster.

The Desert Trail is a 1935 Western film starring John Wayne and directed by Cullin Lewis.
The movie also features Eddy Chandler, Mary Kornman, and Paul Fix.

I am biased towards, these Lone Star films.
I enjoy all of them, for all their whirlwind, few days, low budget filming,
they are a joy, and fun to watch.

In this routine, Duke is rodeo performer John Scott,
who with his friend Edward Chandler, are accused of robbing rodeo receipts.

Duke gaining all the time in confidence, mainly due to the support he had from his friend,Paul Fix, who had a supporting role in this film.Paul, a former stage director and playwright, would stand behind the camera,
while Duke was working, and offer advice and suggestions.

Duke learned how to deliver lines from Fix, and under his guidance,
developed the halting cadence, that became his trademark.

Harry Carey Jr, said at the time,

Paul was the man, who gave Duke his first insight, into his screen persona....
He was the first man, to put the John Wayne image, into John Wayne's head,
and he literally taught John Wayne what he knew about acting.

One of Wayne's better early westerns
21 August 2006 | by frankfob (California)

This early John Wayne Lone Star western has a bit more going for it than the run-of-the-mill oaters Wayne had been making for Lone Star up until that time. For one, it has his old friend Paul Fix in it; Fix, being a much better actor then the standard Lone Star villain, brings a much needed professionalism to the surroundings instead of the usual hesitant line-readings often delivered in these oaters. The plot, about mistaken identity, payroll robbery and murder, is as trite and perfunctory as you'd expect it to be in a 1930s low-budget western, but Wayne's strapping good looks, easygoing charm and way with a line go a long way to making this more enjoyable. Plump, balding Eddy Chandler isn't quite believable as Wayne's womanizing "partner", and there's a running gag about something that happens whenever Chandler and Wayne are about to get into a fistfight that grows tiresome. On the other hand, Wayne's love interest is played by none other than Mary Kornman, the little "Mary" of the early "Little Rascals" fame. She is a grown-up 20-year-old now, blonde and cute as a button. Most of Wayne's leading ladies in these Lone Star/Monogram "B's" were fairly bland and colorless, but Mary is perky, cute and, yes, sexy. There's a scene in the general store, where she works, in which Wayne asks her to get him a bottle of "nerve tonic", which happens to be on the top shelf, so she has to get a ladder and climb up to the top shelf. Wayne's ogling her pert little backside as she ascends the steps, then again as she comes down, then again a few minuter later when he asks her to climb up and get him another bottle is surprisingly racy for a film made in 1935. Wayne makes no attempt to hide the fact that he is definitely checking out her butt. Anyway, it's an interesting little "B", not great, but not as choppy and random as many of his LoneStar productions of the time. The final gunfight isn't handled all that well, and Chandler gets somewhat irritating after a while, but all in all, it's worth a look, if only to see a cute and sexy Mary Kornman.

Best WishesKeithLondon- England

The post was edited 4 times, last by ethanedwards (Mar 24th 2017, 1:20pm).

Hi Keith,
I like this one too. And it is very interesting what you write about Paul Fix. I mention some changers in Dukes manner in speaking in this movie, but don't know why it happen. Thought that he was more experianced in this movie. And what interests me: it is a second movie that I have seen were negative heroine is latin woman. Is it by chance or not?
Regards,
Vera

Re: The Desert Trail (1935)

I watched the Desert Trail yesterday for the Duke´s birthday. I have never seen it before, and I liked it! Watching the Duke´s old B-Western movies is great fun and I have not seen most of them before, so there is always a "new" John Wayne movie for me...!

Sometimes I do not like the idea of a misterious bad guy, always hiding or being disguised in some of these movies (most of the time You find out, who the bad guy real is in the very first moment, when he appears), but Desert Trail was different from that! Interesting story, enough action and a lot of humor!

I like to compare these fast filmed low budget movies to weekly TV-series of today. It´s the same hurry in production. But in comparison to many modern TV-actors the Duke always tried to do his best, even in these low-budget movies!